Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

8:21 PM, Saturday July 16th 2022

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Thank you for all of this.

I don't know what happened to my lines in the rough perspective. I kept ghosting, drawing from the shoulder, even tried going back to the previous pen and paper I was using. It gradually improved again but I think I must have forgotten something.

The red lines in the rough perspective were plotted across the points I used to draw lines between rather than the lines themselves, as I thought it was best to check the intent than the result. I mention this because I'm now not sure.

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8:31 AM, Monday July 18th 2022

Ideally, there shouldn’t be too much of a difference between the intent and the execution by this point, but if you have to pick one my vote would be for the former, yes. It depends on the TA, however, so it’s hopefully not a distinction you’ll have to make. Anyway, let’s take this one exercise at a time, shall we?

Your superimposed lines look solid. Smooth, properly lined up at the start, and of a consistent trajectory. Your ghosted lines/planes look quite confident, too, though I’ve 2 things to point out. First, your start/end points are a little too big. Remember that the idea is that they disappear behind a perfect line. Second, your lines will sometimes hesitate a little at their starts. To combat this, simply make sure that you’re not spending so long lining up your line that you’re losing the rhythm you built up during the ghosting stage.

The table of ellipses exercise is well done. You’re clearly prioritizing confidence, here, and it shows. Do be careful that your ellipses are rounded too, however – as some of these will occasionally turn out a little pointy. That’s especially dangerous, as it suggests the involvement of a lesser pivot (wrist, usually), so keep an eye on it if you can. The ellipses in planes are nicely done, despite the increase in difficulty in this exercise. Do recall that you’re meant to rotate around your ellipses 2 full times, however, so try to hit that. The funnels look mostly good, save for the occasional misalignment near their edges, so simply ghost those areas a little longer, and you’ll be good.

The plotted perspective exercise is a little scratchy, which is a little strange considering it’s normally drawn with a ruler.

The linework on the rough perspective exercise is certainly a little disappointing, and you’re correct that it need not be. After all, there’s virtually no difference between these lines, and the ones in the ghosted lines or planes exercises. Nonetheless, it’s no cause for concern, as it is fairly common. Simply remind yourself that all you’re doing, at the most basic level, is drawing the exact same line, over and over again. Once it’s removed from its context, it shouldn’t be quite so daunting.

The rotated boxes exercise has a similar problem, except to a much lesser extent, and here, it’s even more understandable. Despite that, you’ve done a good job with it! The boxes are snug, and they do a proper job of rotating.

The organic perspective exercise is more of the same. In other words, it shows a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the exercise, but not the course as a whole. That’s fine, however.

Next Steps:

I’ll move you on to the box challenge for now, but I’d like you to come back here if you find that, despite your attempts, your boxes still come out wobbly. Because, then, we’ll need to work on that a little. But, in my experience, it usually resolves itself once the student is aware of our priorities, so I wouldn’t stress. But just in case.

This critique marks this lesson as complete.
9:19 PM, Thursday July 28th 2022

Thanks for the thorough critique, Benj. Your points were all very helpful.

You asked me to come back if my boxes kept coming out wobbly. I'm currently ~30 boxes in to the 250 box challenge and, unfortunately, my lines have gone like they were in the rough perspective exercise again. Aside from wobbling/bending, they almost always drastically miss the mark. I did some more ghosted lines pages and the issues show up there, too.

I am drawing from the shoulder, watching posture, not taking too long between ghosting and executing, but there's still no improvement. That makes me suspect I'm forgetting something.

Whilst I'm ghosting, I can see that I'm not very accurate. The prospective line is all over the place. I don't know if that's relevant, but thought I'd mention it.

I've posted this as a community question but wondered whether you felt I should carry on with the 250 box challenge.

5:42 AM, Friday July 29th 2022

You should definitely carry on, but I'll recommend joining our Discord server, and posting every new page you make there, so you don't need to wait until you've done another 30 boxes to know whether you're heading in the right direction. As for right now, what I see most often (especially in the rough perspective exercise!) is that students get a little overwhelmed by the big picture, and forget that the unit of work is a single line. I'd not stress too much about whether my line is accurate (either during the execution, or ghosting), and simply focus on making it as smooth, and straight as I can. I expect drawing it really really fast will help, and then you can decrease the speed for some control as you start gaining a little more confidence.

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No matter which brand of ellipse guide you decide to pick up, make sure they have little markings for the minor axes.

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